How to Get Baby Milk - A School Story

Every day at lunch, I leave my classroom and my team teacher watches my class so I can pump. When I come back, I always take care of the milk and wash my pump parts while the kids finish cleaning up from lunch.

My students often ask me where I go during lunch, and I have always given very simple answers. I tell them I go to get Alden's milk. They ask me where, I tell them the principal's office (that's where I pump). It usually doesn't require very many simple, vague answers to satisfy them.

Today, one of my students was asking me lots and lots of questions. After the above questions were already asked and answered, the conversation continued...

Student: Can't you just fill a big container with milk and take it home so you don't have to get it every day?

Me: No, there's not enough for a bigger container.

Student: Why can't you just buy it at the store?

Me: It's not regular milk. It's baby milk.

Student: I don't get it. And what is that for? (pointing to my pump parts)

Me: It's how I get the milk.

Student: I still don't get it.


At this point I decided my vague answers weren't going to cut it.


Me: Honey, where do baby cows get their milk?

Student: From their moms.

Me: And baby pigs?

Student: From their moms.

Me: And...baby goats?

Student: From their mom.

Me: (just looked at her for a minute, watching the wheels turning in her head)

Student: OH! Oooohhhh. Okay, that's just weird.


Ha ha ha. She was totally weirded out. I asked her not to talk about it with other students and she happily obliged. I think she would really like to forget all about it. That'll teach her to ask so many questions. Ha!

Learning Letters

Leland has been really interested in learning letters lately. He often asks about letters, and in the last few weeks, he has surprised me with what he knows. Since he's showing interest, I decided to get more of our magnet letters out. For a while, I only had the letters of his name out - why clutter up the fridge if he's not interested, right?

Well, a few days ago, he was playing with the letters and naming the ones he knew. Once again, he surprised me with what he knew. I love listening to him name them.

I heard him name probably half the letters. "That's X. That's O. That's S. That's W." And so on. Then he got to the letter F and said, "That's...hammer."

This boy. :)

Lonely

Every day at school, I have to leave the classroom to pump. I usually do this twice a day; once when my students are in PE or Spanish, and once during lunch. At lunch time, a parapro comes to my classroom to relieve me to pump for about 10-15 minutes.

Surprisingly, my students haven't asked me much about it. When I did this after having Leland, they all had a million questions (thankfully they were satisfied with very simple answers), but my current students have only asked me where I go at lunch time. I tell them that I have to go get Alden's milk and they are totally fine with this answer. Some kids know how it all works because they have younger siblings and they prefer not to talk about it.

Last week, a student asked me where I go to get Alden's milk, and I told her I usually go to the principal's office.

"Is Mrs. Ferris (the principal) there when you go?" she asked.

"No, she's not." I said.

"So, you're in there all by yourself?"

"Yes."

"Maybe you should ask Mrs. Ferris to stay with you sometime so you have someone to talk to. It's probably pretty lonely in there."

I managed not to laugh. I smiled and assured her that I'm okay, and I don't get too lonely. Then later I had a good laugh at the thought of inviting my principal to hang out with me while I pump. Awkward...

Oh, the innocence of children.

Oh my gosh!

A few days ago, Leland went pee on the potty for the first time (And second time. He went once before bath and once after. Probably while he was in the bath too, but let's not talk about that). He has sat on the potty about a million times, but never did anything on it. 

When he did the other night, I was completely surprised and shouted, "Oh my gosh! You peed on the potty! Oh my gosh!"

And since Leland is at the age where he loves to repeat things, he started repeating "Oh my gosh!" over and over. I told him to go tell Daddy what he did, and all he could say was, "Oh my gosh!" And when he went to bed about an hour later, he was talking to himself in his bed, saying, "Oh my gosh! I pee potty! Oh my gosh!" 

His little voice is the cutest thing in the world when he's saying the most ordinary things, but when he says things with such excitement, oh, I could just burst.

So, like any obsessed parent, I took a couple of short videos of this new phrase of his (the bath one is my favorite...that face!). Enjoy!

As for the pottying, he has gone one other time since then. I don't think he's ready to REALLY potty train yet, but he likes sitting on it, which is a good start. I'm not really in any hurry. I would like him to be potty trained by age three, so that he can start going to preschool part-time at my school, but that's still eight months away. I'm taking cues from him, and when I think he's really ready, we'll work on it. For now, I just let him sit on it when he wants, and I offer at every diaper change.

The Memory of a Toddler

Sometimes Leland's memory astounds me. The kid remembers things we say or things we do after just one time (yet he can't remember that where he leaves his sippy cups).

For example, we have these pictures up in our living room. Leland loves to look at any pictures and name the people in them, and these are no different. 

Sorry for the poor quality phone pic

Well, one day about a month ago, Dave pointed to the tiny bit of cleavage that is visible in the top picture and said, "Boob." (I think Dave misses the days when he could admire them without a baby always being attached.) He didn't think Leland was even paying attention and they both went on to name everyone in the photos.

The next day, Dave was asking Leland who everyone was in the pictures again. He pointed to everyone in the bottom picture and Leland named everyone correctly. He then named Daddy in the top picture. But when Dave pointed to me, Leland said, "Boob." 

We laughed because...well...it was funny. But now, a month later, Leland still calls me Boob in that picture. He will call every other photo of me Mama or Mommy, but that one is always Boob. Even when we correct him and say it's Mama, he looks all confused and says, "No, Boob!"

Always Boob. So now Dave just calls me Boob all the time (when Leland isn't around, of course...we'd hate for him to start calling me that in public).

Oh, the joys of having a husband without a verbal filter.

Chivalry Is Not Dead...

Sometimes I wish I lived in a time when men were gentlemen. When they opened doors for women, paid the tab, and defended a lady's honor without being reminded. Like it was just the thing to do.

Dave does some gentlemanly (pretty sure I just made up that word) things sometimes, but it's not exactly a regular thing after over a decade together. But so many men have completely forgotten - or were never shown - how to be a gentleman.

I plan to teach my sons how to be gentlemen. To cherish women and treat them with respect, and to put women first.

Well, my friends, it appears that Leland has already learned how to take care of a lady. A few days ago, I was picking Leland up from daycare, and my friend Sarah was picking up her daughter. She told me that Leland stuck up for her daughter that day. Then Julie told me about it.

Apparently, one girl bit Sophie (Sarah's daughter), and Leland - who adores Sophie (or "Fophie" as he calls her) - took it upon himself to defend her. By pulling the other girl's hair.

I have mixed emotions about this. On the one hand, it was really sweet to hear that Leland cared so much about Sophie and wanted to take care of her. It was somewhat chivalrous of him, and that makes me proud. On the other hand, you can't defend one girl by beating up another. Don't be jerk, man.

Classroom Observation...

At my school, teachers are observed a lot by administration. It's pretty much always unannounced. You'll be teaching and suddenly there's someone in your room watching you. Sometimes it's just for a few minutes. Sometimes for forty minutes. You just never know. While I'm still not exactly used to it - I still get major butterflies when they come in - I am much more comfortable with it than I used to be. 

This year, we have a new system for observations. We are required by the state to have a "formal" evaluation once during the year. So, when the administrator comes in and takes notes, those notes are now sent to the state. And besides that, we also have to do a self-evaluation and a peer evaluation. 

Our peer evaluation is due March 1, so people are starting to set up their observations right now. My co-worker that was assigned to observe me came in to see my reading group today. Even though she's my friend, I was a little nervous. Maybe I was more nervous because she's my friend. I don't know. But I know that part of my anxiety was because of the class she was observing: my reading group.

My reading group has been a challenge for me this year. They are a great group of kids - very bright, very fun, very sweet, but they talk a lot. It's really difficult to keep them focused and on-task. Quite honestly, I'm slightly terrified that my formal evaluation will be during that time. I have pretty good classroom management in my opinion. But I just don't feel like I have it together with this class. We get our work done, and we learn a lot, but it's not easy. I feel like I'm constantly trying to reel them back in.

So anyway, my co-worker came to observe me during reading today. One of my students approached her and asked why she was in our classroom. She replied, "I'm just here to see how Mrs. Nowak teaches you."

The boy responded, "She does a really good job. But sometimes kids don't listen."

When she told me that, I about died! The boy speaketh the truth!

Well, at least he thinks I do a good job.

Breakfast of Champions...

Sunday morning, when Leland woke up, the first word out of his mouth, before I even got him out of his crib, was "Doh-wah?" He was asking for a doughnut.

While I would have loved a doughnut too, we didn't have any. When I told him we didn't have any doughnuts, he said, "Candy?"

"No, we don't eat candy for breakfast." {Well, mommy might sometimes, but I don't need him following in those footsteps.}

Leland then responded by asking for a "bah-muh-min" {vitamin}.

As I was getting him a vitamin, he opened the refrigerator and pulled something out. Before I could see what it was, Leland said, "Hot sauce?" Ha ha.

I think it was safe to say that Leland was hungry.

In case you're wondering, we settled on some peanut butter toast and an orange.

House Divided...

Some families have what they call a "divided" house, because of sports teams. One parent roots for one team, and the other parent roots for the rival. I imagine it can get heated in those households during that particular sports season. I also know a few couples who are divided when it comes to politics - one person votes liberal, while the other votes conservative. I imagine that can get even more heated, because politics are ALWAYS happening, even when it's not voting season.

In my house, we have a different kind of division that has only just started in the last few weeks.

See, many people may not know this, but I am a rap fan. Yes, I'm a white a girl. A teacher, a mom, a church-goer. But I love me some rap. I grew up listening to 2Pac, DMX, etc. I've actually even been to a DMX concert - he came to Traverse City a few years ago. Kristina and I were right up front and I even caught his sweaty t-shirt that he threw into the crowd, but then I nearly died trying to hold onto it so I gave it up.

My rap artist of choice is Eminem. He's my absolute, all-time favorite. I have all of his CDs and could listen to him every day. Dave doesn't necessarily enjoy rap. He prefers "screaming music" as I like to call it, like Godsmack. But he has always been a good sport about my music, and he does enjoy rap more than country, which I also listen to{I know, rap and country - quite the combination}.

Recently, Dave has discovered that he likes the rap group ICP. Now, if you aren't aware, ICP and Eminem are somewhat rivals. One of my favorite Eminem songs is him making fun of ICP. I have never liked ICP even before I knew they were at odds with Eminem. I don't like their clown make-up and I really don't like their music. But knowing about the rivalry with Eminem just kind of sealed the deal for me.

Well now Dave likes ICP. He has been looking up their videos on YouTube and playing them on his phone at night when we're in the living room together. More than that, though, is that he's looking up information and stories about them online and telling me about them {as if I care} and we end up bantering back and forth about them.

Below is a conversation that actually happened the other day {all in good fun - we're not serious or actually arguing} while Dave was listening to ICP:

Me: Can you turn that down? Or off would be even better.

Dave: What, you can't appreciate good music?

Me: I can appreciate good music, but you're not playing good music. You're playing crap.

Dave: They're better than Eminem.

Me: Better at sucking? Yeah, they probably are.

Dave: They're good. They're not sellouts like Eminem. They didn't go mainstream.

Me: Because no one likes them. You have to be popular to be mainstream.

Dave: People like them. They've sold millions of albums.

Me: Not as many as Eminem.

Dave: Well, does Eminem throw a huge party for his fans where all they have to do is show up and he puts on a party and a free show? ICP does and I think that's pretty cool of them.

Me: Eminem can't do that because he actually has fans. What kind of venue can hold all of his fans? And his fans are willing to pay to see his shows because he's awesome. No one wants to pay to see ICP. I would pay not to see them.

You get the point.

So we are a house divided. Never thought I'd see the day that we were divided by rappers, but it has come. I'm sure it won't last long though - Dave tends to like a group for a month or so and move on. And, seriously, is there anyone that is an ICP fan forever? No. Because, eventually, they come to their senses.

Just For Fun...

Well, I had this post in my head and I was all ready to write it tonight, but I got a little distracted {or inspired, perhaps?} by another post idea.

I decided to share one of my latest forms of entertainment. Helium Booth videos.

A friend of mine told me about the Helium Booth app for iPhone {free}, and I gave it a try. Well, let me tell you, they can be pretty hilarious. My friend and I send them back and forth to each other, and she has gotten a few other people hooked on them as well.

Tonight, I tried my best Sweet Brown impression. Well, maybe not my best, but certainly the best I could do while knowing I was recording myself! So, here I am to share it with you, dear internet friends. Enjoy. :)

End of Discussion!

Yesterday, one of my first grade students was upset with me. I don't remember why, but he was mad and pulled his fleece vest over his face and refused to look at me.

When I continued on with my lesson, he was a little perturbed at not getting any attention for this behavior, and said, "I am NOT looking at you!" And then some other words came mumbling out that I couldn't quite decipher thanks to the fleece over his face.

So I said, "Did you just say I'm disgusting?" {That seriously was what it sounded like.}

The boy replied, "No! You're beautiful! I said 'END OF DISCUSSION!'"

I about died laughing. Apparently, he wasn't too mad at me if he still thought I was beautiful. And he got over it a few minutes later.

Husband/Wife Quiz

When I saw this on Sarah and Shannon's blogs, I knew I had to do it too. However, I was a little concerned that my husband wouldn't want to cooperate. He doesn't like doing anything that might end up on the blog. Ha ha.

But he did it. Now, did he take it seriously? Not necessarily.

Did he do well? Not at all.

But it sure gave me a good laugh.

The questions are in black. My answers are in purple. Dave’s answers are in red. And general commentary is in blue. Enjoy!

How long have you been married?  
8 years.          

Too long. 8 years.

Where was your first date?   
Mancino’s.     

No idea. Mancino’s?

Where was your first kiss?    
At the movies – bonus points that I remember the name of the movie: The Last Castle.   

In your basement? At the movie theater?

Who first said, "I love you"?
He totally did. It was my policy not to say it first.     

She did.

What were your wedding colors?
Cranberry, white, and silver.

Some purple color. And my vest was silver.  

Wow, Dave. You are really terrible at this.

What is her most commonly used phrase? 
Your mom.

Your mom.     

Yes, I am 15 years old.

Who is her celebrity crush? 

I don’t think I have one, really.

I don’t know.

If she was ordering drinks for both of you what would you each get?   

Pepsi for me, Mountain Dew for him. We don’t generally drink alcohol. But I also haven’t pop since I found out I was pregnant with Leland. I do long for a Pepsi.

Pepsi for her, Mountain Dew for me.

What is the best meal she has ever cooked you?   

Lasagna  

Lasagna

What is the worst meal she has ever cooked you?  

Chicken Pot Pie. For the record, it was delicious, but Dave whined like a baby that it had peas in it.

Nasty chicken meal like 10 years ago.

Not the same meal.

What is the most-played song on her iPod?

I don’t have an iPod. I don’t even have music on my iPhone. I usually listen to Pandora, and my latest fave station is 90s Hip Hop.

Some dumb country song.


What would she say is your most annoying habit?

Honestly, that’s hard to pinpoint. He does some seriously annoying shit.

Me. I’m just annoying.

What is the last thing she does before she goes to bed?  

I don’t think I really do anything special. I pee. I brush my teeth. I kiss Dave goodnight and I go to sleep.

Masturbate.  

My husband is a freak. Seriously.

If you could throw out one item of her clothing what would it be?  

I would say either all of my sweatshirts. Or all of my bras. Or…maybe all of my clothing.

All her shirts.


What would you say is your favorite thing about her?

My boobs.      

Her boobs.


What's her go-to drink at Starbucks? 

I don’t drink coffee.   

Ummmm….we don’t go to Starbucks.

What's her blog's name?
Living Our Love Song

Keeping Up with the Nowaks

Ha! My friend’s blog is Keeping Up with the Kowalskis (or it used to be). He was totally just throwing out something random here.

Old Dog, New Tricks...

Dave and I just got iPhones and Dave is learning how to use Siri to text (since he never texted before at all). This is the text I got yesterday.

Ha ha. He said Siri was picking up Leland's voice in the background and that is what the "or or or" was. 

Be careful what you say to your kids...

...They might repeat it to their teachers.

Today, I was talking to one of my first graders about his weekend. His younger sister had her birthday party, and he was telling me all about it.

Then, along came his older sister, and I asked her how the party was.

She responded, "It was fun. But the cake was shitty."

I thought perhaps I had misheard her, so I said, "What?"

{Note to all you folks, you probably shouldn't ask a child to repeat something that you thought was a swear word.}

"Mom said the cake was really shitty. And it was. It was a shitty cake," she said.

Oh geez. I politely asked her to stop saying that word, but then had to turn around because I was smiling and on the verge of hysterical laughter. And I am dying laughing right now. Swear words are funny. Especially coming from a third grader. Ha ha haaaaa!

Peas Can Be Funny. No, Really...

Thursday night, I had parent-teacher conferences until 8:00, which meant that Dave was a single parent that night, and by the time I arrived home at 8:30, Leland was already snug in bed.

This conversation followed:

Me: So how did it go tonight?

Dave: Good. He didn't like his peas at all though.

Me: Really? That's weird. He usually loves them. {Looking at Leland's daily sheet from daycare...} He even had peas today at Mindy's.

Dave: Well, maybe that's why he didn't like them. Maybe he was tired of them. Why would you give him peas for lunch and dinner?

Me: I didn't. I packed him carrots for lunch.

Dave: Well, how did he have peas at lunch then?

Me: I guess Mindy gave him some. I told her she can give him pretty much anything she thinks he'll eat.

Dave: Oh, so she gave him her peas?

This is where I burst out laughing for a good 20 minutes. Not sure why? Read Dave's last comment out loud.

{In case you still don't get it, let me spell it out: her peas...her-peas...herpes.}

Soon, he was laughing too. Perhaps it was my complete exhaustion from the week I had, but I could not stop laughing. I'm actually still laughing about it.

Dollar Store Gem...

A few years ago, I bought several posters at the Dollar Store, including the one below. I had it up in my classroom for an entire school year and then put it away for a few years. I pulled it back out this year and put it up.

Within a few days {maybe even the first day?}, a student pointed out a spelling mistake. I couldn't believe that I never noticed. More than that, I couldn't believe that no one else ever noticed!

I left the poster up because...well...because I'm lazy and I didn't want to look for something else to take its place. Since then, several students have pointed it out {while few other children are around, so it's not like they're repeating what someone else has said}.

How funny.

Thank you, Dollar Store, for this fine educational poster.

And P.S. My superintendent was in my room one day and said my room looked complete because it had a horse poster {to say she loves horses is an understatement}, and she didn't even notice!

Mustang Stampede {kind of a funny story}...

So, my school is having this athletic fundraiser right now called the Mustang Stampede {our mascot is a mustang}. To kick off the fundraiser, we had a school assembly yesterday in which staff and students participated in a relay race. Basically, there were six teams of teachers and students. The teachers started the race, galloping with a horse on a stick. We passed the horse on to a lower elementary student, who passed it on to an upper elementary student, who passed it on to a junior high student, who passed it to a high school student, who passed it to a kindergarten student. It was really cute; the students loved it, and the teachers had fun too.

I volunteered myself and one of my students to be on one team, and we had fun. My whole class told me that I won the race and I was the fastest. I'm not sure how true that is, but they thought it was cool that their teacher was in the race. There were 5 other teachers in the race too, including my friend, Courtney, who I carpool to school with.

Anyway, it was fun.

So, this morning, on the way to school, Courtney is telling me how she ran 18 miles this weekend {she's training for her seventh Detroit marathon...WOW!}. She says that she was tired afterward, but felt fine. Then she said that, for some strange reason, her upper thighs/quads were hurting last night and this morning. She thought it was weird that it took a few days for her 18 miles to effect her like that.

Then I explained that my quads were really sore last night and this morning, which is weird because I haven't run in like two weeks. I have just been so dead tired at night. I don't have a chance to run until like 8:00, and I don't want to run then because 1) I'm exhausted and 2) I don't want to "wake myself up" too much by running so close to bed time. So anyway, I'm telling Courtney that I'm really confused as to why my quads hurt, because I hadn't done anything physical in forever...except for the relay yesterday.

Suddenly, it hit both of us. We were hurting from a 50 yard gallop! And we think this is just the funniest thing ever. Courtney can run 18 miles and feel fine, but she can't gallop for 10 seconds?! And I go a couple weeks without running and suddenly I'm falling apart from a freaking gallop?!

Ha ha ha...I don't know if anyone will find this as funny as we do, but I had to share. Apparently galloping works different muscles than running, and it works them hard. So if you're ever looking for a good workout, just volunteer for your local school's galloping relay race!

Diarrhea...

1st grade boy #1: "Mrs. Nowak, my sister has a diarrhea book."

Me: "Ummmm....thanks for sharing?" (Thinking why in the world are you telling me this? And who in the world has a diarrhea book?!)

1st grade boy #2: "He means Diary of a Wimpy Kid."

Oooohhhh! Ha ha ha HAAAA! I laughed so hard. And this was also in the middle of an observation. Hilarious!

Wordless Wednesday...

Leland's attempt at crawling...or maybe push-ups...

He does this all day long. Over and over and over. And usually ends up going backwards or around in a circle. It's adorable.

Student of the Week...

In my classroom, I have a student of the week. Each week, that student decorates a poster about themselves to display in the classroom and the whole class writes them "bucket filler" notes {compliments}.

My students wanted me to be the final "Student" of the Week, so last week, I decorated my poster with pictures from childhood to now and shared it with the class.

The first picture I talked about was of me, my brother, my sister, and my mom at Christmas when I was little. The kids asked how old I was in the picture. When I told them I was three years old, one student said, "They had color pictures back then?!"

Then I had a picture of my Grandma Josie and Papa Ralph, and the kids were shocked to hear that my grandma is still alive.

Geez, kids, how old do you think I am?!